Console Clients

This article details how to interact with the OpenStack API from console clients.

Creating Users

Before using the API, we have to create a new user and add them to the project.

In the Virtual Private Cloud menu on the left, click the Users tab.

A page will load with a list of users. Click Create user.

Enter a username and click Create.

Passwords are generated automatically, but can be changed in the user’s block by clicking Change password from the drop down menu. To view the user’s project information, expand the block by clicking the arrow.

Choose the project you’d like to add the user to from the drop down menu and click Add to project.

The user with then appear in the project’s control panel. There will be a link next to the username which can be used to access the project’s resources from an external control panel.

In the user control panel, an RC file (a script that console clients use for Identity API v3 authorization) can be downloaded from the Access tab. A separate RC file is required for each region.

Installing Software

Additional software has to be installed before we can configure our system to access projects. In this article, our installation instructions apply to Ubuntu 16.04. Commands may be different for other operating systems; instructions for Debian 7.0 and CentOS 6.5 can be found in the control panel under the Access tab.

The program will request a password. Enter the password for the user you accessed the external panel with.

We are now in the system.

Viewing Information on Available Zones

Each VPC region may contain multiple zones. Zones are sets of servers in different racks for virtualization and data storage. Servers in different zones may be connected in a local network. Resources that are available in each zone define the zone’s quotas that can be managed from the project control panel.

It’s worth setting the hard disk space to 0 in this command. In our system, a Cinder volume is connected to the machine as a root (system) disk. We chose this solution to maximize flexibility: unlike local disks (or “instance stores” in Amazon terms), Cinder volumes can be disconnected and connected to other machines.

The auto key in this command means the server configuration ID will be generated automatically:

The OpenStack platform lets you create servers from one command without creating a volume first. Unfortunately, standard console clients don’t let you give a volume name or type, which is why it will be a default volume type (fast):

When we created our control panel and images, we tried to make it impossible to transfer unencrypted passwords over a network. This is why our images don’t take passwords but a hash generated by the control panel.

To access a machine from the console, you can just enter your login and click Enter. SSH access is only possible using a key.

Creating Servers from Windows Images

To create a virtual machine from our Windows images, the machine must be connected to the licensing network. A list of these networks can be viewed using the command: